I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand on November 13th (my birthday!). Unfortunately, I was exhausted from travelling through the night and spent most of my day resting up for my next adventure. On the 14th, I met up with my group of backpackers for our "GAP tour" of Southeast Asia. I was surprised at how modernized the city of Bangkok is and how little damage I could see from the flooding. I really didn't get to explore much of Thailand before leaving to Cambodia on the 15th. I returned to Thailand at the end of my Southeast Asia tour, and had more time to explore then!
The transition from Thailand into Cambodia was not distinctly noticeable, but the roads in Cambodia seemed much worse, rice fields and open space became more common, and the style of houses changed to wooden houses on stilts.Cambodians speak the language of Khmer, drive on the left-hand side, and use both Cambodian and US currency very commonly (ATM's withdrew cash in USD and USD was accepted everywhere!)
Our first stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap. The evening we arrived we were taken to a small local project site, where a school and home for children had been built. The children were just finishing school when we arrived and they were very excited to see us and practice the English they had been learning. Our second day in Cambodia we travelled to Angkor Wat, the ancient city of brick buildings hidden amongst the jungle built during the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. Most of the buildings are still standing, although some parts are beginning to crumble. It is really an amazing site! It was also quite exhausting climbing up many many steep stairs to reach the top of each of the temples.
Our second stop in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh. Their I visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The Silver Pagoda has a floor made of 5000 silver tiles. Unfortunately, most of the floor was covered by carpet, I guess to avoid damage. Our group also visited the Tuol Sleng Museum (the security prison where many educated Cambodians were tortured and killed during the Pol Pot regime) and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields (where the remains of the victims were left). Both of these places were extremely sad and difficult to visit, but they were also really meaningful stops in understanding Cambodian history and the people of Cambodia.
Speaking of, I found the people of Cambodia to be quite friendly and happy. They were very easy going and most seemed interested in speaking with tourists. However, in our last Cambodian stop, the beach town of Sihanoukville, there were both adults and children constantly following us and bugging us to buy whatever they were holding or any service they could offer. I found this quite annoying, but I think it is more of a reflection of what major tourism can do to a developing country than of the nature of Cambodian people and their culture. Regardless, I enjoyed Sihanoukville and did get to do some snorkelling and boating.
We left Cambodia through the Mekong Delta on November 21st. Overall, I found Cambodian to be an extremely interesting country. I would definitely like to return one day, but I would be more interested in seeing some of the less visited areas and getting a better taste of the Cambodian lifestyle.
